ADHD Does Not Exist

ADHD Does Not Exist

The New York Post reviews the book, “ADHD Does Not Exist: The Truth About Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder” (HarperWave, February 2014) by neurologist Richard Saul, M.D.

Selected quotes from this article:

“After a long career treating patients complaining of such problems as short attention spans and an inability to focus, Saul is convinced that ADHD is a collection of symptoms, not a disease, and shouldn’t be listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. … One by one, nearly all of Saul’s patients turned out to have some disease other than ADHD. … The term attention deficit disorder was made official in 1980, when it appeared in that year’s edition of the DSM (the label changed to ADHD seven years later). Subsequent editions have steadily loosened the definition, and diagnoses have skyrocketed accordingly — from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007 to 11% in 2011. That’s one in nine children, two-thirds of them boys, who are being slapped with the ADHD label. Two-thirds of these children have been prescribed a stimulant.”

It’s not ADHD; it’s just Life!

Quote from Harperwave: “In this controversial and landmark work, Dr. Richard Saul draws from five decades as a practicing physician and researcher in the field to contend that the definition of ADHD as we know it is completely wrong. Instead, he argues that the “disorder” is a cluster of symptoms stemming from more than twenty other conditions, each requiring separate treatment. The detailed list ranges from mild problems like poor eyesight, sleep deprivation, and even boredom in the classroom, to more severe conditions like depression and bipolar disorder.”

Adults and children can have problems in life, and they can have study difficulties; these are not, however, some mental illness caused by a deficiency of psychotropic drugs in their brains. These are symptoms of things like being lazy, tired or hungry, or eating lots of sugar instead of proper nutrition, or some real existing medical condition that has gone undiagnosed and untreated, or simply not having been taught to read. There are hundreds of conditions that could cause these symptoms — one has to conduct legitimate tests until the real conditions are found and handled. There are no medical tests for so-called ADHD, because it isn’t a real illness. It is simply an excuse to produce and sell drugs. The fact that these drugs are harmful and addictive just means that psychiatrists are producing patients for life in order to ensure a continuing stream of income.